Welcome to Green Alliance's podcast. We are the charity and think tank that is all about achieving ambitious leadership for the environment. I am Chetanya Kumar, senior policy advisor on low-carbon energy. In this episode, I'm bringing you the highlights from our recent event marking the launch of our new report,

Community Energy 2.0.

Alongside a Community Energy Manifesto signed by more than 20 community energy and affiliated troops,

including Impact Investors.

Last month, Climate Minister Claire Perry wrote an op-ed,

where she stated that from

power stations to solar panels, the future of energy is local.

With distributed generation growing almost five-fold since 2010, we couldn't agree

more with her assessment.

The UK's low-carbon energy transition will invariably mean smart energy technologies entering our homes and neighbourhoods in growing numbers, be it electric vehicles, solar panels, heat pumps or smart thermostats.

New ways of managing these dynamic sources of energy could mean an unprecedented shift in the way we make, sell and operate our energy system.

This report, of course, is more interested in the question of ownership.

In a system where a majority of the new economic value from energy will be generated locally,

the question of who extracts that value becomes pertinent.

Could this future energy system look very different, but essentially still

be owned by the same big players as today? What balance can we strike and what principles

will underpin such a system? Both our report and our event unpicked the role of community

groups in this emerging energy system. Their ability to better engage customers on energy and their

role in creating wider social value from the energy system is what separates community energy

from the rest. This report marks a significant departure from the subsidies-driven era of the previous

decade. My research has indicated that community groups are willing to learn,

innovate and actively participate in this future energy system, and it's up to government to hear

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